Mommy had to attend a conference in South Florida this year. Those mean lawyers made me work for 4 days. But I did get to stay at a fancy Ritz-Carlton and immediately began stealing the shampoos, pencils and chocolates left on my bed. Now, when the kids do homework, they can do it holding a fancy Ritz pencil.

This is also the first time I've seen a fish bar. Basically, there is a company that comes and sets up giant fish tanks and then sets a bar on top of it. Pretty cool. Too bad I couldn't take the fishies home on the plane.

He looks sweet in this picture but...

Bennett has been in trouble at school for fighting. And he’s 3!!! The first incident was kind of funny and we thought “that kid will always be in the middle of it”. But now they are sending ‘Oh-No’ reports home and they have to be signed by a parent. His punishment included no tub toys for one night and all of his dress-up costumes were removed from his room for one night. I know this sounds like a light punishment but you would have thought I cut his arm off with the crying and fit he threw once he heard about his punishment. We hope this will keep him from fighting at school again. In the meantime, I smile at the other parents and hope their kid wasn’t the one who was involved.

Brian and I (well really just Brian) finished our taxes only to realize that we pay an ungodly amount of money for daycare. Without kids, we’d be rich and we both envisioned the trips we could take, or eating out at restaurants that don’t list prices. It was a fun few minutes of daydreaming but we wouldn’t trade it for our chaotic life with our amazing boys -- and their really expensive daycare.

This Christmas, the boys received almost every lego, star wars and GI Joe ever made. Bennett loves Santa and had to be removed from his lap at the mall. Charlie, not so much.

The biggest news of all is that Natalie got engaged! Congratulations to the future Mr. & Mrs. Brad Yamaato. We are so excited to welcome Brad to our family.

Pumpkin Farm Fun!

We visited a Pumpkin Farm this weekend and had a blast. Bennett loved the slide and bouncy area. Charlie could not get enough of the Corn Maze...he raced through each section in record time! The highlight of the day was our first ever viewing of a Pig Race (3 races in total). We'll definitely be returning to Southern Belle Farms next year.

Bennett's new school

After much discussion, we decided to move Bennett to Kids R Kids daycare. This is the same place where Charlie attends kindergarten. We thought it would be good for both boys to be together and it makes it easier on us to pick-up and drop-off in the same place. It was a tough decision b/c we loved the Treehouse. There were a few tears on his last day.

Bennett was a little annoyed that he couldn't be in kindergarten with his brother but his room has more toys including a play kitchen which made him very happy.

Mommy and Daddy are happy that both boys are now wearing uniforms which is so much easier in the mornings. And less laundry!

tee-ball

Charlie is playing tee-ball. His team is the Durham Bulls. His games are at 9:30 am on Saturdays so feel free to come cheer with us. It is so cute to see these 4 and 5 year olds hit, run and try to catch the ball. Their favorite part is getting to run the bases at the end of an inning, giving "good game" high-fives to the other team, and the snack afterwards. Bennett likes to cheer for his brother but more importantly, likes to get a donut at the ballpark concession stand.